Huge spill in southern Chesapeake Bay caused by ship's pilot

Once again, I have been quiet here on my reporting. The reason has been two-fold. First, I learned through a former colleague of mine that the Central Government had found a way to discover the source of all Internet postings, mail, and other applications. Frankly, I didn't want to disappear over a few words wasted on a blog. Second, we had a local catastrophe here along the shores of the southern Chesapeake Bay, and I've been involved in some of the response.

Here's what happened.

Earlier this month, I think it was the 7th, actually, the container ship MARIA MAERSK was getting underway from the new container terminals here in Portsmouth. The MARIA MAERSK, a huge container ship more than 700 feet long, was outbound from Hampton Roads after off-loading containers and taking a few aboard. The officers of the vessel, all from Holland, and the crew, all from China, were aboard, as was a captain from the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Association. A captain from the CBPA is aboard every merchant vessel underway in the Bay; the situation on the MARIA MAERSK was no different. The pilot for this trip was Reginold Samuels, a pilot of more than two decades here in the southern bay. Captain Samuels, who'd lived his whole life here in Hampton Roads and had sailed these waters for nearly as long, came aboard a little after 6AM. The MARIA MAERSK was due to get underway at seven for the outbound trip down the Elizabeth River, into the Hampton Roads, past the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, into the lower Bay, past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and out into the Atlantic. Nothing unusual; this kind of stuff happens on a daily basis... well, daily before and daily now that the Central Government has exerted some control.

Anyway, Captain Samuels got the MARIA MAERSK underway. There was no security platoon from the Internal Security Force (Maritime) -- what we once would have called the Coast Guard -- as outbound vessels don't generally rate a security detail. Inbound, yes. But, outbound, no.

So, shortly after 7AM, the MARIA MAERSK got underway and headed out.

As we learned later, Captain Samuels, a radical Christian and a Constitutionalist, had decided that this was going to be his last run as a pilot for the CBPA. Once the vessel cleared the remains of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and headed into the lower bay, Captain Samuels was able to disarm the bridge watch using some sort of a chemical agent. He locked all the entrances to the ship's bridge, and he took the helm himself.

And he drove the MARIA MAERSK on the "first island" of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel complex, the southern entrance to the southern tunnel of the CBBT. The MARIA MAERSK, fully loaded with bunker fuel for the trip to Kuwait, was ripped open and more than 2.3 million gallons of fuel spilled, within hours, into the bay.

As you may know, the CBBT is a regular fishing spot, and it was recently re-opened for fishing, although boats aren't allowed within 500 yards of the bridge or tunnels.

In the ensuing confusion -- and there was plenty, for sure -- Captain Samuels made his way off the ship's bridge and was able to lower himself over the side of the MARIA MAERSK onto a waiting fast sport fisher. The last anyone saw of Captain Samuels, he was headed north in the bay. Rumors are that he's in an enclave on the Eastern Shore or perhaps on one of the islands in the middle bay or perhaps somewhere on the Northern Neck. It doesn't matter. He got away, and the bay was covered in oil.

The jihadists came around looking for volunteers to help clean up the oil which had reached the shore, and I volunteered. While I may hate the Central Government and the jihadists and everything else about the last couple of years, I'm not one for allowing our environment to be ruined. Although, I do have to admit, I was somewhat ambivalent about the whole thing. What a great weapon: to use a merchant vessel to do significant damage and to bring world scrutiny to the situation here in the new Republic of the United States of America.

Clean-up has been pretty basic. I'm amazed that we haven't come up with a better way to clean shoreline than carting away sludge and using shovels, and sea shells, to pick up the heavy oil.